


Never let anyone tell you that art is easy.

by Yolonolobroyo



Category: Original Work
Genre: Creators are terrifying, Delta is a sassy little shit, Delta is the smollest smol to ever smol, For once it's not Tumblr fault, God okay no impusle control whatsoever, I can't believe I did this., I have a problem and need help, I'm dying kill me, Karma will fight you and win, My babies are beautiful, Nonbinary Character, None of this is based off of real life btw my brain's just weird, OCs are tiny little pets, OCs of ocs, Oh my fucking god Broyo stoooop, Original work by meee cuz I can't stop won't stop, Pansexual Character, Rated bcus there will be cursing, They have like gangs and packs and shit and basically empires for every fandom, ffffffffuuuuuuucckkkk, no smut ever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 04:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11936628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yolonolobroyo/pseuds/Yolonolobroyo
Summary: Artists are badasses. Enough said*sigh* do I even need to tell you that I have a problem at this point? I swear I need to go to a support group or something because this is getting out of hand.Original work, all characters created by yours truly.If this doesn't interest you, I have four fics on gay skeletons and one about YouTubers.I also have Tumblr.Suchamazingness.tumblr





	1. Day to day

**Author's Note:**

> Artists are all fighting each other. Some have made alliances, some have become bitter enemies. But there are different types of artists right? Like fanartists, sound designers, game designers, AU creators, fanfic writers, original content creators, animators, etc. So they're all in these little gangs, hanging on their own, or have a group made of different artist types or people who do multiple types of art. And it's like these gang wars. They're all trying to get one up on each other and live another day. Either that or fighting haters. And they like constantly find out their irl identities and targeting them irl so like instead of the stereotypical shut-in artists, you've got this kick-ass dancer gang using ballet and salsa and shit to try to kick an animators ass only for the sound designers and authors of the fic that's based off of their animations to come and fucking wreck them. Delta is just a beginning artist wanting to create a simple fancomic for something that was made by a friend/ found online, only to be dragged into this mess. Non-creators don't even know about this shit, maybe there's a rule put in place by the government, you can only do this shit in studios/ artist allies/ your house/ etc. They end up finding their gay friend (they have at least one, that is my requirement) also fighting this unknown war in the underground art community, and ask them to help them figure this out. Unless things get physical, artists mainly fight with art tips and advice, especially the dreaded 'practice' that's as much fighting as it is drawing and stuff. Cosplay is either an attempt to hide themselves amongst the non creators or a way to show what gang/pack/posse you're in. Artists/writer's block is code for gotta go to the totally illegal art supply/prompt dealer downtown. Art thieves and plagerists are wanted criminals and the creators frame them for all these crimes to get them arrested so they can't pull that shit. Usually they hire actors, who are more pacifistic assassins, to do it for them, or writer's, who are less dramatic, more sadistic, and more pragmatic. 
> 
> Each artist type gets their own special attack types.
> 
> Artists can change the landscape around them and make whatever they draw come to life, Dancers have amazing agility and flexibility, Actors can change their bodies to look like anyone they've seen as long as they can remember what they look like Along with their voices, Writers are very persuasive and charismatic, they can either say something to change or neutralize an attack or they can write it with a magic pen in a magic notebook, which allows them to write a scenario and have it actually happen, Musicians and sound designers can create different emotions in others or force them to do something (attack their pack member, etc.) By changing the tempo and tone of the song they play, Animators can make time slow into a frame by frame sort of thing and change things. 
> 
> Delta is nonbinary fluffball. They doesn't swear until they are super pissed off
> 
> Best friend is pansexual female and totally buff. Pan girl will totally fight you and win.
> 
> Writers are super aware of the Multiverse and alternate timelines, but only artists can create portal to them if the writer doesn't have their pen+journal.
> 
>  
> 
> Artists can only bring something to life once every thirty minutes, but can't reverse death. Writers can't do anything that would damage or otherwise destabilize the Multiverse. 
> 
> Actors can only impersonate someone if they remember exactly what they look like/ are looking at them.
> 
> Animators can rewind time, but the further back they go, the longer it will be until they can do so again, and they will be exhausted.
> 
> Dancers can't move very fluidly or quickly after they use their agility too much. If they push their limits, they will be paralyzed, but by slow and careful practice, can extend the time they can use their ability.
> 
> If the musicians don't have a good understanding and knowledge of the music they're playing, (not reading sheet music, taking unnecessary rests, hitting wrong notes, etc.) it causes random aches, cuts and bruises to appear.
> 
> Sound designers often need a device or something to mix the tracks, so they need to have a phone/computer/something with them at all times, preferably fully charged.

Crowded buses are the worst, Delta thought to themselves. They sighed, pulling out their phone and flipping to Tumblr, hoping to pass the time with a cool webcomic their friend had made. The twenty-two year old sighed. They wished they could be half as good as their friend Karma. Sure, she'd started drawing two years before they did, and of course she'd get more practice, since animations require months of work for a couple of minutes of material, but still! They should have been better by now! Of course, they'd improved so much since grade school, and art classes and tips from online had definitely helped, but it was still so flawed. Their style was okay, but needed a lot of work, they needed to look back on the color wheel, their line art was awful, and they couldn't seem to improve any of it without sacrificing the innocent look of the entire thing! One step forward, two steps back.

On the other hand, they loved their characters. They couldn't imagine redesigning them into a completely new style. The current one fit just fine. They loved each and every one individually, even if they occasionally made them suffer horribly in roleplays and such.

The color wheel would be looked at first, they decided. The shades used impacted the feeling of the drawing greatly. Speaking of shade, shading practice would be next. It was fun, and they got better and better!

Finally finding the comic they'd been searching for, the small doodler carefully analyzed the art. The shading could use work, as could the blending, but Karma used pens, not drawing chalk like they preferred, and so they were a bit harder to blend. The lineart was distinct and careful, a deviation from the wobbly scribbles of a third grader that these same characters started out as. They smiled, seeing how far their best friend had come in fifteen years. They finished the latest updates just as their stop came up. They stood as the bus dragged to a halt, watching the ground for any stray feet in the aisle, their short hair hiding their face.

Their job as a barista in this little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop in this huge city might not be exciting, but it paid the bills, and most of the time the customers and staff were rather kind. It was better than some glamorous job that made them rich and had awful people who constantly talked down to them.

They eyed the napkins on the counter. They could usually work in a few drawings after the usual morning rush, and it wasn't like there wasn't a pen right next to them.

Thinking of it, they kinda wanted to draw Aspen, one of their newer OCs. She reminded them of Karma. The spunky brunette teen always seemed to be angry on some level, but was actually just emotionally inarticulate. No angsty backstory for this bean, she's too pure.

They got to work carefully sketching the delicate lines that constructed this tough little thing.

...

Delta hadn't been home for long. They had to lock up the shop, though, so it was still kinda late. Even so, they still couldn't sleep. Insomnia sucks. So they did what they always did when they couldn't rest - they got up to retrieve their sketchpad and supplies, and started to draw. Soon, they had drawn an entire little comic page about, surprise surprise, their OC Aspen. She certainly wasn't their most developed character - she was created only recently after all - but they loved her all the same. It only took about three hours, but they had finished the work - they were quite the perfectionist, and Aspen had been fleshed out a bit more. Now suitably tired enough to ignore their thoughts, Delta turned off the table lamp, not bothering to close the sketchbook, and collasped onto the bed.


	2. We've got a tiiiiiny problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God, it's too early for this shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow ok so this is a thing I'm doing ok

The next day, Delta awoke to a tiny poke at their cheek. They grumbled sleepily. Whatever was poking their face suddenly stopped and gave a little gasp.

...

Wait.

Waaaaiiit...

Processing...

Delta jerked awake with a little squeak. On the bed before them was Aspen. Or rather, what Aspen would look like if she was real and also like five inches tall. Golden hair pulled into a messy braid, a t-shirt that showed the tan skin with lighter blotches. Her jeans were stylishly ripped and stuffed into her combat boots. All in all, the green-eyed blonde was basically screaming 'tomboy'. Delta loved it.

The tiny teen recovered quickly and glared up at them.

"What are you looking at?"

"You," Delta quipped without any of their usual sass. What the actual fuck?

"What are you, some sorta giant thing?"

"No, you're just tiny."

"Yeah right," Aspen snorted.

Delta sighed, running their fingers through the blue portion of their hair.

"You are literally five inches tall at most."

"Bullshit. Why should I trust you? It's not like I know you."

They sighed. "You're killin me, smalls." Before Aspen could give a response they got up and grabbed the ruler on their desk.

"Stand here," they told her.

"No." They huffed. They knew Aspen needed work, but jeez. Was this their mind's way of saying 'hey dipshit, fix it'?

They pinched the back of the OC's shirt between their thumb and forefinger, gently lifting her. They weren't surprised to find that she was really light. They ignored the screaming and biting. It was understandable.

They used their finger on their left hand to push her back against the wall, using a pencil to carefully mark her height on the wall before letting her go.

"Look. That is how tall you are. That is your height."

"Okay."

"This is a ruler. It is used to measure height, length, ect."

"Obviously."

Delta's eye twitched. They took a deep breath, then released it. They placed the ruler against the wall. The mark they made was at about three inches. They watched for Aspen's reaction carefully. She seemed a bit overwhelmed. Delta felt overwhelmed. They just woke up. It's too early for this. Why is their latest drawing suddenly a _tiny, living, breathing thing_  in their house?!? Were they going crazy? Was this some crazy dream or hallucination? Were they running a high fever and seeing things?

One things for sure, they mused, Aspen absolutely could not be left on her own, especially outside, until they figured this out. But they had to get groceries. This was the only day they could go. They sighed. Putting up a little 'curtain', they pushed Aspen in before getting dressed. Tying a dark gray hoodie around their waist, they gently cupped their hands around her and lowered her into the pocket. Aspen, of course, did not like _that_  at all.

"HEY! What are you doing?! Put me _down_!" She shrieked in her tiny shrill voice.

Delta sighed. Today was already awful.

"I need to go grocery shopping, and I can't leave you alone here, so you've gotta come with me," they explained gently, trying to hold onto their patience in the face of this bratty teen.

She made a sound somewhere between a hum and a whine, then carefully settling into the pocket.

"Mmkay." Delta blinked. They had expected an argument, but it seems Aspen was going to be reasonable. They recovered quickly.

"You ok in there? Not sliding around or jostling too much?" Aspen seemed uncomfortable with their concern.

"Yeah, I'm good," she muttered, wriggling deeper into the pocket. Quietly smiling, they set out to go get groceries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: suchamazingness
> 
> Leave a comment or kudos! I'd like to know what you think!


	3. Karma's coming

The store was quiet today. Made sense, it was a Wednesday morning after all. Delta muttered to themselves as they shopped.

"Milk. Okay, now the cereal aisle." They walked to the aforementioned aisle. They subtly reached into their pocket and settled Aspen into the little niche in their scarf where she would be well hidden.

"Hey Aspen, what kind of cereal should we get?" Both had basically accepted that Aspen would be staying with Delta. She wasn't particularly excited at the prospect of going home. Peer pressure, high expectations, and the high school fashion police? Yeah, no thanks.

"Huh?" Aspen was a bit taken aback. People didn't usually ask her what she wanted or thought. She'd gotten so used to the fact that no one payed attention to her unless she forced them that the fact that a person that didn't even know her was giving her a choice nearly knocked her from her soft, warm perch. She stared at the giant bags of cereal, slightly intimidated by the possibility of screwing this up.

"U-uh, how about the, uh, the s'mores one?" Delta gave her a small, warm smile.

"Nice choice Aspen. It's really good." They took note of how panicked she had looked before as the relief dawned on her face. They also noted that she had picked the cheapest one instead of one she might like more. This needed to be written down later.

...

The duo started the drive home. Usually, Delta would have opted for walking, as it wasn't far to walk from the store to their apartment, but as it was particularly chilly and their jacket pockets weren't very thick, they chose to drive to save Aspen the risk of a cold. Delta suddenly thought of something.

"Hey Aspen."

"Yeah?" Delta hesitated for a second.

"What would you think about drawing some things with me?"

"What things?" Aspen replied suspiciously.

"Nothing bad. I just... I want to work on my skills and maybe do something with them. Get some outside perspective, ya know?" Aspen seemed to be mulling it over. Just as Delta was about to take it back, Aspen piped up.

"Okay." They tried to hide their grin. They failed.

...

Several months and hundreds of drawings later, Aspen had gotten a bit more confident and Delta trusted her to be on her own at home, but that didn't mean that they didn't sneak her with them everywhere. She seemed to like hiding in her scarf. She had even taken a few scraps of cloth from Delta's old clothes to make her own. Delta didn't particularly care. It wasn't like they were using them.

Their drawings had improved a lot. They didn't dare try to adjust Aspen's original design though. They didn't know what that would do, but now that they had her, they realized how big and lonely the tiny apartment had become without someone there with them.

They didn't want to go back to that.

Aspen had suggested multiple times that they put some of the drawings online, do a comic, something. Strangely enough, they found that each day, their desire to do so grew. They tried to come up with reasons why they couldn't, but all were shot down. They had a story, they had the skill, they had the passion, so why not put their work out there? There's nothing to worry about. They could do this for themselves. Finally, they gave in. So it came to be a cool September night when Aspen and Delta sat down to start drawing the first page. Aspen couldn't always hold up the chalks-they were just too big for her-, but she proved to be rather adept at blending the colors, and she had quite an eye for detail. She also played another important part-keeping Delta from being an utterly obsessive perfectionist, reminding them that it was okay to have a few mistakes and they'd just make it worse.

Finally, after a week or so, the first page was done. Delta took a picture of it, carefully zooming in to focus on the comic. Finally, the two posted it on Tumblr and waited for the response.

Said response, when it finally came, was astounding. There weren't many, but the few they had were great. People were cheering them on, commenting on their art style, and sure, there were a couple of negative messages and notes, but Delta and Aspen had long ago learned to ignore petty insults.

Karma texted Delta. She wanted to meet them on their lunch break. For some reason, the way it was worded made them nervous. They tried to relax. Karma was their friend. She wouldn't try to hurt them, physically or verbally.

Lunch rolled around quicker than usual, and they walked to the usual meeting grounds, which was a small clearing in the park. They settled on the bench, shifting uncomfortably.

"Delta!" Karma was visible even through the after-school crowd of kids and teens, her brightly dyed hair flashing vibrantly. The black woman was coming at them at full tilt, making pedestrians leap and vault out of her way. When she finally reached them, she brushed her yellow, pink and blue hair out of her face, huffing quietly. Delta and Aspen sat, quietly terrified of her. Once she got her breath back, she revealed the purpose of the meeting.

"Delta. Did you post a little comic thing online?"

"Yeah."

"It's cool." Delta blinked, confused. Was that it? Karma pulled them out of work to tell them that? She could have just called them.

"Uh, thanks. You know, you could have just texted me. You didn't have to come out here." Karma gave them a lopsided grin, but a flash of worry could be seen in her hazel eyes.

"I know." A beat of silence passed. They shifted anxiously, making Aspen cry out as she began to fall. Delta caught her before she could hit the ground, but now Karma was staring in abject horror.

"Oh my god. Where did you get that?!" A slight panic filled her voice. Delta was nearly panicking by now, their friend's paranoia feeling infectious.

"I dunno," they muttered sullenly.

Karma gave them an intense stare of Parental Doubt ™, making their hackles rise.

"I drew her, I fell asleep, I woke up, she's here. She's staying," they growled coldly. Karma looked a bit surprised, irritation flashing across her face. She took a deep breath, waited a bit, and released it, rubbing her temples as she slouched.

"Sorry, I'm just... surprised. Rightfully so. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's insane! None of this makes sense! Aspen's gonna stay with me, but how did she get here? How could I even begin to think you, or anyone really, would believe me?! A tiny person I designed suddenly appears in the real world without any explanation?! Nothing makes any damn sense!" they ranted frustratedly. Aspen nuzzled into their cheek. They'd found that silent affection and support was the best way to calm Delta down. Of course, Delta rarely got angry, but they hated people lecturing them. They couldn't stand it.

Karma sat next to them.

"Well, you have about forty-five minutes to tell me everything. Start from the beginning."

...

"No, no, nonononono-" The dark silhouette stared down at the man impassively.

What is greater than God and more evil than the devil? The rich have it; the poor need it; If you eat it you will die. What is it?"

The cowering man trembled at their feet. "N-no," he whispered helplessly.

The word dropped from the shadow's mouth like a stone.

"Nothing." The man's outline began to flicker out before he disappeared completely, leaving nothing but his phone, which the Writer picked up. It was already open to the right page. How considerate. They pulled out their own phone, dialing their employer's number.

"What?"

"It's done," they murmured.

"Good. You'll find the goods on the corner of Goddard and Maine." They smirked.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

They hung up, going to retrieve their payment, leaving nothing in the hidden alley to suggest there had ever been anyone there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feels really rushed, specifically Karma's introduction.

**Author's Note:**

> *screams frustratedly into the void*
> 
> I don't know where this came from, I swear. This was an impulse decision (I should really stop doing that).
> 
> Leave a comment! Constructive criticism and random letters make my day!
> 
> Tumblr
> 
> Suchamazingness


End file.
